The Fiestas of Riobamba brought a whole bunch of WorldTeach volunteers together. Riobamba is a small city about 3.5 hours away from Quito by bus. I really liked the city. I had passed through once before on my way to Guano but this time I spent a bunch of time in RioB. It’s little enough to have that small town feel but big enough to have lots of things to do – the perfect mix.

I went with my friend Robin and met up with about 20 volunteers. We all met up near the bus station and headed to a restaurant owned by one of the students of our friend Sarah, who teaches in RioB. We ended up staying for 3 hours chatting and catching up. It really was great to see everyone. One of the guys brought a huge bag of Kit Kats and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups which everyone attacked. No one has had those chocolates since we came to Ecuador. We all ate too many and felt sick afterwards! I stole one and fed it to my host brother’s later. They liked it!

That night, we all met for drinks and somehow ended up on a chiva. A chiva is a crazy looking open sided bus that people rent for a night to drive around the city and blast dance music. Meanwhile the people on board dance and drink and have a crazy fun time. One of the guys dragged my blond haired, blue eyed friend Robin and yelled, “We have gringas!” and we were welcomed on board immediately. It was a blast driving around Riobamba.

The next day Robin, Ali, and I headed over to Riobamba’s botanical park and hiked around a bit. There was a concert and amazing food which of course we ate. The park was beautiful even in the rain and we had a really nice time. It started to rain really hard on the way back and we decided that it was time to head back to Quito.

Great weekend getaway!

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